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Friday, May 27, 2011

After what feels like an eternity we finally have our bikes back on Salt Spring Island, but sadly this is a story of trials and tribulations.

When we were informed that our bikes would be arriving in Vancouver (late I might add) we were also informed that they had been sent COD (cash on delivery). And thus started a several week fight between us, TBS Ship Peru and Choice Aduana Peru. As it turns out the money we paid for shipping before leaving Peru was not used appropriately and when it really comes down to it we got scammed. We made arrangements, we paid the agreed upon price and then things didn't go according to plan. Everyone is pointing the finger at everyone else and in the end we are the ones getting screwed.

We waited and waited for things to get properly sorted out hoping that the right thing would happen, but this is Peru and do-gooder spirit was smashed. Meanwhile our warehouse storage charges were mounting. We cleared the bikes through customs (96.32 CAD plus a trip to Vancouver) in the meantime so that we would be ready. Things in Peru started to become bleak at best so we cut our loses and paid the ransom for our bikes. Total legit charges were 305.50 CAD per bike in Canadian destination charges plus extra US charges (60 USD/bike) thanks to the shipping company that shipped our bikes through the US. Total additional scam charges totaled 540.40 USD per bike. We paid 80 CAD per bike at the warehouse plus an additional 15 CAD per day per bike for storage fees. What it amounts to is a lot of money that would have paid for the cost to fly the bikes home with Air Canada cargo. Lesson learned. To make matters worse both of our bikes suffered damage during shipping, though thankfully we were still able to ride them home.

Our first glimpse of the bikes

Happy to be reunited at least

What really pisses me off the most, apart from the frustrating feeling of being taken of advantage of, is that our bikes were shipped out of the country, nobody paid for the shipping (even though that the arrangement was set-up as pre-paid) and we didn't find out until the bikes had already arrived in Canada when we were getting billed for it (some 45 days later). Why was this not brought to our attention earlier!?!

I obviously do not recommend using any of the companies we used to do your shipping. Also, if possible, don't let the shipping company send your bike through the United States (if it is returning to Canada), it will cost you more.

What can I say.... it was a terrible experience and money NOT well spent.